Council Directive 92/57/EECShow full title

Section II On-site outdoor workstations

1. Stability and solidity

1.1. High-level or low-level movable or fixed workstations must be solid and stable, taking account of:

• the number of workers occupying them,

• the maximum loads they may have to bear and the weight distribution,

• the outside influcences to which they may be subject.

If the support and the other components of these workstations are not intrinsically stable, their stability will have to be ensured by appropriate and safe methods of fixing to avoid any untimely or spontaneous movement of the whole or of parts of the workstations.

1.2. Checking

Stability and solidity must be checked appropriately and especially after any change in the heigt or depth of the workstation.

2. Energy distribution installations

2.1. On-site energy distribution installations, especially those subject to outside influences, must be regularly checked and maintained.

2.2. Installations existing before the site began must be identified, checked and clearly signposted.

2.3. Whenever possible, where overhead electric power lines exist, either they must be redirected away from the area of the site or else the current must be cut off.

If this is not possible, there will be barriers or notices to ensure that vehicles and installations are kept away.

Suitable warnings and suspended protections must be provided where vehicles have to pass beneath the lines.

3. Atmospheric influences

Workers must be protected against atmospheric influences which could affect their health and safety.

4. Falling objects

Wherever technically feasible, workers must be protected by collective methods against falling objects.

Materials and equipment must be laid out or stracked in such a way as to prevent their collapsing or overturning.

Where necessary, there must be covered passageways on the side or access to danger areas must be made impossible.

5. Falls from a height

5.1. Falls from a height must be physically prevented in particular by means of solid cradles which are sufficiently high and have at least an end-board, a main handrail and an intermediate handrail or an equivalent alternative.

5.2. In principle, work at a height must be carried out only with appropriate equipment or using collective protection devices such as cradles, platforms or safety nets.

If the use of such equipment is not possible because of the nature of the work, suitable means of access must be provided and safety harnesses or other anchoring safety methods must be used.

6. Scaffolding and leaders (1)

6.1. All scaffolding must be properly designed, constructed and maintained to ensure that it does not collapse or move accidentally.

6.2. Work platforms, gangways and scaffolding stairways msut be constructed, dimensioned, protected and used in such a way as to prevent people from falling or being exposed to falling objects.

6.3. Scaffolding must be inspected by a competent person:

(a)

before being put into service;

(b)

subsequently, at periodic intervals;

(c)

after any modification period without use, exposure to bad weather or seismic tremors, or any other circumstance which may have affected its strength or stability.

6.4. Ladders must be sufficiently strong and correctly maintained.

They must be correctly used, in appropriate places and in accordance with their intended purpose.

6.5. Mobile scaffolding must be secured against spontaneous movements.

7. Lifting equpiment (1)

7.1. All lifting devices and accessories, including their component parts, attachments, anchorings and supports, must be:

(a)

properly designed and constructed and sufficiently strong for the use to which they are put;

(b)

correctly installed and used;

(c)

maintained in good working order;

(d)

checked and subjected to periodic tests and inspections in accordance with current legislation',

(e)

operated by qualified workers who have received appropriate training.

7.2. All lifting devices and acccesories must clearly display their maximum load values.

7.3. Lifting equipment and accessories may not be used for other than their intended purposes.

8. Excavating and materials-handling vehicles and machinery (1)

8.1. All excavating and materials-handling vehicles and machinery must be:

(a)

properly designed and constructed taking account, as far as possible, of the principles of ergonomics;

(b)

kept in good working order;

(c)

used correctly.

8.2. Drivers and operators of excavating and materials-handling vehicles and machinery must be specially trained.

8.3. Preventive measures must be taken to ensure that excavating and materials-handling vehicles and machinery do not fall into the excavations or into water.

8.4. Where appropriate, excavating machinery and materials-handling machinery must be fitted with structures to protect the driver against being crushed if the machine overturns, and against falling objects.

9. Installations, machinery, equipment (2)

9.1. Installations, machinery and equipment, including hand tools whether power-driven or not, must be:

(a)

properly designed and constructed taking accounts, as far as possible, of the principle of ergonomics;

(b)

kept in good working order;

(c)

used solely for the work for which they were designed;

(d)

operated by workers who have received appropriate training.

9.2. Installations and equipment under pressure must be checked and subjected to regular tests and inspections in accordance with existing legislation.

10. Excavations, wells, underground works, tunnels and earthworks

10.1. Suitable precautions must be taken in an excavation, well, underground, working or tunnel:

(a)

using an appropriate support or embankment;

(b)

to prevent hazards entailed in the fall of a person, materials or objects, or flooding;

(c)

to provide sufficient ventilation at all workstations so as to ensure a breathable atmosphere which is not dangerous or harmful to health;

(d)

to enable workers to reach safety in the event of fire or inrush fo water or materials.

10.2. Before excavation starts, measures must be taken to identify and reduce to a minimum any hazard due to underground cables and other distribution systems.

10.3. Safe routes into and out of the excavation must be provided.

10.4. Piles of earth, materials and moving vehicles must be kept away from the excavation; appropriate barriers must be built if necessary.

11. Demolition work

Where the demolition of a building or construction may present a danger:

(a)

appropriate precautions, methods and procedures must be adopted;

(b)

the work must be planned and undertaken only under the supervision of a competent person.

12. Metal or concrete frameworks, shutterings and heavy prefabricated components

12.1. Metal or concrete frameworks and their components, shutterings, prefabricated components or temporary support, and buttresses must be erected and dismantled only under the supervision of a competent person.

12.2. Adequate precautions must be taken to protect workers against risks arising from the temporary fragility or instability of a structure.

12.3. Shutterings, temporary supports and buttresses must de devises and designed, installed and maintained so as to safely withstand any strains and stresses which may be placed on them.

13. Cofferdams and caissons

13.1. All cofferdams and caissons must be:

(a)

well constructed, of appropriate, solid materials of adequate strength;

(b)

appropriately equipped so that workers can gain shelter in the event of an irruption of water and materials.

13.2. The construction, installation, transformation or dismantling of a cofferdam or caisson must take place only under the supervision of a competent person.

13.3. All cofferdams and caissons must be inspected by a competent person at regular intervals.

14. Work on roofs

14.1. Where necessary to avert a risk or where the height or the slope exceed values set by the Member States, collective preventive measures must be taken to prevent workers, and tools or other objects or materials, from falling.

14.2. Where workers have to work on or near a roof or any other surface made of fragile materials through which it is possible to fall, preventive measures must be taken to ensure that they do not inadvertently walk on the surface made of fragile materials, or fall to the ground.

(1)

This point will be specified in the framework of the future Directive amending Directive 89/655/EEC, particularly with a view to supplementing point 3 of the Annex thereto.

(2)

This point will be specified in the framework of the future Directive amending Directive 89/655/EEC, particularly with a view to supplementing point 3 of the Annex thereto.